Top 10 Creepiest Things Found in People's Homes

So you just moved into your new house and you want to ceremonially christen it with your first homemade meal. You pop open the oven and find… an entire dollhouse. Well, that exact scenario didn’t occur, but the dollhouse part is true! Elizabeth Fournier of Oregon’s Cornerstone Funeral Services and Cremation often goes into the homes of the recently deceased. She told Reader’s Digest that on one particular occasion, she went into the home of a deceased old woman and found an entire three-story dollhouse in the oven. What it was doing in there, no one knows. We also don’t know if that is creepy or just incredibly weird...

In an AskReddit thread about things found in homes, user anthropology_nerd recounted the story of finding meat hooks in their basement. They were exploring the basement of their century-old house with their brother when they came to a small area with white plastic walls, a walk-in freezer, and meat hooks dangling ominously from the ceiling. It may sound like something out of “Dexter,” but the room had a perfectly normal and totally not serial killer-y explanation. The previous owner of the house was a German man who made his own sausages and sold them out of the house. Not ominous, no, but certainly creepy nonetheless.

Finding meat hooks dangling from the ceiling is one thing. Finding a noose is something else entirely. While in their sophomore year of college, an anonymous Reddit user often hung out with their friends in a rented house. One day, they found a secret door behind the furnace and ventured in with flashlights. Inside the stuffy and dark room, they found garbage scattered across the floor, various scribblings on the walls, and a noose hanging from the ceiling beam. They further explain that the home was likely a frat house in the past, which means that the creepy room could have been used for initiation purposes. Either that or something far more sinister...

We don’t recommend digging up your floors, but at the same time, you never know what you’re going to find. An English man named Colin Steer was doing work on his house when he discovered that the floor dipped near the bay window. He started excavating his own home and discovered a Medieval well underneath the floorboards. It was eventually discovered that the well went to a depth of thirty feet and was dated to the 16th century. Excavation also discovered a centuries-old sword that had been tossed inside the well for unknown reasons. As Steer proudly proclaims, “[He has] a piece of Plymouth’s history in [his] front room.”

This story involves another Reddit user and another creepy secret room. User otherself claims that they lived in an “old”… “crappy party house” for a year, presumably while in college. As they were moving out and their friends were moving in, they discovered a secret room after moving some kitchen shelves. Inside they found a very small, very thin room containing a sleeping bag and a pillow, neither of which looked particularly old. A responding user claims that small rooms like that are often used by addicts and homeless people, sometimes without the tenants even knowing. They probably weren’t subjected to an unwanted house guest, as the room was hidden and barred by shelves. But maybe once upon a time...

For this story, we’re going back to Elizabeth Fournier of Oregon’s Cornerstone Funeral Services and Cremation, the same woman who found the dollhouse inside an oven. One of her more unsettling finds came after lifting the mattress of a recently deceased homeowner. Under the mattress, Fournier discovered an old birth certificate. After conducting some research, she found that no one in the family knew of the mysterious child or the birth certificate. Many questions are raised by the discovery. Who is this child? Do they even exist? And why was the birth certificate hidden under the mattress? Perhaps the hardest thing about this story is knowing that we’ll never know...

Cleaning out deceased elderly homes has to be incredibly sad. Case in point - the Christmas tree. Jasmine Hobbs of London Cleaning Team was cleaning the house of a lonely old woman who had recently passed away. She eventually came across a room containing a large, gorgeous Christmas tree that she claims was “beautifully decorated”... “with tons of kids’ toys underneath.” However, the old woman never had children, so there was no discernible reason for the Christmas tree and presents. It’s certainly a little creepy, but at the same time, it speaks to the unbelievable loneliness that many people face. This poor, lonely old woman just wanted to celebrate Christmas with children.

With this story, we go from a sweet and lonely old woman to a creepy old man who may very well practice voodoo. Lauren Haynes of Star Domestic Cleaners also cleans houses of the recently deceased, and she told Reader’s Digest of a very unsettling discovery. While cleaning the apartment of an elderly man, Haynes found a collection of family photographs. Nothing out of the ordinary there. But drawn on these photos were red pentagrams over the faces of various family members. She also found a voodoo doll laying on the floor near the photos. Many people don’t get along with their family. But this? This is downright dangerous.

Roslyn Wright of Charlotte, North Carolina was attempting to build a deck in her backyard when she unearthed thirteen gravestones. Her backyard did stretch onto an old cemetery, but Wright was of the impression that her land was free of graves. The stones looked very similar to the ones found in the nearby cemetery, and a member of the local Historic Landmarks Commission also believed that they were of a similar style and age. Wright claims, “Before, we were OK with it. But now it’s just too close for comfort.” We don’t blame her. This is how haunted house movies begin! A similar thing happened to Reddit user SensationalSavior, who found an empty child’s tomb on their property.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Fishes in the Fireplace
A Reddit User Found a Bunch of Fish Buried in Their New Fireplace

Braids
The Previous Homeowners Left Their Daughter’s Cut-Off Braids in the Basement

Vintage Prams
House Cleaners Found Vintage Prams in the Attic Containing Swaddled Animal Corpses

Dead Chickens
A Pennsylvania Family Discovered That Their Home Had Been Insulated with Lifeless Fowl

A Possum Mummy
A Hoarder’s House Contained the Mummified Corpse of a Possum Buried Under Garbage

Gwyn Priddy of LeFlore County, Oklahoma had recently purchased a new home when her nephew made a grisly discovery. Located in the barn was an old coffin containing a real human skeleton whose bones were fused together by wires. The bones were sent to the Tulsa medical examiner’s office, who found that they were over one hundred years old. They also got in contact with the previous homeowner. He reportedly found the coffin in an abandoned building that was once used by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization that used real skeletons in their initiation ceremonies. He brought the casket home, threw it in the barn, and promptly forgot that it existed until Priddy’s nephew made the discovery.